Olive bow wreath hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Olive bow wreath: preview of the stitched design

A wreath of olive is tied with a ribbon bow: two branches rise from the bow, clothed with pairs of slim olive leaves, with an olive standing out from the branch on its stalk at every pair. The leaves grow a little smaller toward the tips, and the top is left open. The brown stems and stalks are stem stitch, the leaves are satin stitch in sage and olive green, and the purple olives are satin stitch. The rose pink bow has satin stitch loops and tails and a padded satin stitch knot.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, no shading, with a little padded satin stitch.

5 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.7 × 1.7 in	4.3 × 4.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.5 in	6.6 × 6.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.4 in	8.9 × 8.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 4.2 in	10.9 × 10.7 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.1 × 5.9 in	15.5 × 15 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownStems and olive stalks
DMC 989 Forest GreenGreen half of each olive leaf
DMC 730 Very Dark Olive GreenOlive half of each olive leaf
DMC 208 Very Dark LavenderOlives
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseBow, bow tails and bow knot

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsStems, olive stalks
Satin stitch 2 strandsOlive leaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), olives, bow, bow tails
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.